From WIN Magazine

Info from Wikipedia.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Red Rocker,

dang, now that is some crazy stuff, but the guy throwing him isn't that skinny I mean, look at his legs, teir like most big guys.

At that exact moment in the picture, Dietrich has got to be wondering if the throw was such a good idea.

Compliments to the cameraman!

I have not seen the picture of Chris Taylor getting tossed by the Russian since High School, and believe me that was a long time ago. He was one of the featured clinicians at the Iowa State Camp my senior year. But someone that really impressed me while I was there was Frank Santana. Anyone remember him??? That guy was awesome and his story of escaping from Cuba should be a book.

I remember watching that throw in '72. It is one of my top 5 most memorable sporting events and I was only 12 years old. If someone has the video clip; It need's to be posted!!!

No clip of that throw but there is another clip of Taylor along with a whole mess of other clips if you click here.

Still searching though...

I know this thread is almost a year and a half old but was looking for this picture again and came across the Wikipedia article above.

Lo and behold in the caption of the article there is a link to a video of the match and throw on YouTube. Thought some might like to see it. Click here.

Thanks for finding that clip. RR. It brings back old memories. At that time I had the picture when Dietrich's head was just hitting the mat on the wall of the wrestling room. Under it I had written, "This helps explain why we were able to beat these people in 2 world wars."

About a year and a half after that Chris spoke at our winter sports banquet in LeMars, IA. Before the dinner he told me that he was going to drop a bombshell that night. That's when he announced that he was going to join the World Wrestling Federation. He apologetically said it was the only way he would be able to give back to amateur wrestling and he did contribute a lot of money to our Olympic training camps after that.

Coach Ascherl, you are right about Frank Santana. He was unbelievably tough and inspirational. I remember reading his story in the Des Moines Register when he was at Iowa State. The reporter asked how he could go through such a tough workout and then stick around after practice to work out more on his own. I don't remember all of the details and may be way off but his answer went something like this. Tough? This isn't tough. Tough was when my brother, my dad, and I were running across the beach in Cuba, heading for a chance to escape to America. When my dad was shot in the back my brother and I started carrying him but after while we realized he was dead and we left him on the beach. That's the toughest thing I've ever had to do. If I remember right his brother was wounded then and he carried him to the boat.

This country was built by people who were willing to take chances and possibibly die for better opportunities for themselves and their families.

"This country was built by people who were willing to take chances and possibibly die for better opportunities for themselves and their families" QUOTE

Amen to that Frank. Its really amazing what some people have gone through just to live in America......I wonder if us "natives" realize how good we have it here?????

How old was Chris Taylor at the Olympics? I am guessing quite young. Straight out of college?

Speaking of Chris Taylor; who wrestled for Iowa State ... (back when Iowa and ISU were regularly battling for the D1 championship, early 70s)

My brothers were at ISU when Chris Taylor was wrestling there. Back then; if you were in the dorms at ISU ... they did not have a Sunday evening meal service. Not sure if Chris Taylor was in the dorms or not, but .. in general, you had to do something else on Sunday night at ISU.

There were stories of "all you can eat" buffets that would not serve Chris Taylor. I assumed this was a Sunday night deal.

My brothers would talk about seeing Chris Taylor on campus and I guess it was quite a site. I am thinking he weighed about 400 pounds while at ISU.

I guess going to wrestling meets was an "in thing" at ISU at the time; and the meets would be packed. I don't know if they still pack them in; but when Chris Taylor was there ... they did.

Chris Taylor showed up at the Nebraska state meet one year back in the early to mid 70s. He was wearing these unbelievable pointed clogs that might him look like a humongous elf. That was a remarkable sight.

Chris reminds me of Mike Max(Former CSC wrestler, now Ainsworth coach)....Mike may not have gotten quite as big as Chris, but he got pretty close. My point is, they were big, powerful, intimidating men on the outside, but just teddy bears on the inside. (I didn't mean to refer to Mike in past tense as in he's not with us anymore, but he's not nearly as big as he once was).

quote:

Originally posted by green goblin:
How old was Chris Taylor at the Olympics? I am guessing quite young. Straight out of college?

Speaking of Chris Taylor; who wrestled for Iowa State ... (back when Iowa and ISU were regularly battling for the D1 championship, early 70s)

My brothers were at ISU when Chris Taylor was wrestling there. Back then; if you were in the dorms at ISU ... they did not have a Sunday evening meal service. Not sure if Chris Taylor was in the dorms or not, but .. in general, you had to do something else on Sunday night at ISU.

There were stories of "all you can eat" buffets that would not serve Chris Taylor. I assumed this was a Sunday night deal.

My brothers would talk about seeing Chris Taylor on campus and I guess it was quite a site. I am thinking he weighed about 400 pounds while at ISU.

I guess going to wrestling meets was an "in thing" at ISU at the time; and the meets would be packed. I don't know if they still pack them in; but when Chris Taylor was there ... they did.

According to the Wikopedia article Chris was born June 13, 1950. He won his first NCAA national championship in 1972 so he turned 22 soon after the nationals and was just over 22 for the 1972 Olympics. He came back to school after the Olympics and won his second national championship in 1973 and would still have been 22 at that time. He wrestled in JC for 2 years before Iowa State so he probably never took a red shirt year to get bigger.

The athletic dorm would have served on Sunday night. When I was at Northern Iowa we had a basketball player who was the biggest eater I've ever seen. In those days the buffets were about $2.95. We used to joke that when Pete went to a buffet they gave him $3.00 and sent him over to their competitor.

My math teacher said he wrestled him once when he was at the University. Something about the heavyweight was out and he needed an immediate replacement, and he found my teacher in the weight room and gave him a singlet. He got pinned in like 10 seconds. I think my math teacher is crazy though, so, I'll leave it to you to believe him or not.